Warriors’ win truly historic

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Warriors' Baron Davis points after making a three-pointer against the Dallas Mavericks.

Golden State Warriors' Baron Davis celebrates after the Warriors beat the Dallas Mavericks in an NBA Western Conference first-round basketball playoff game Thursday in Oakland. The Warriors won 111-86.

Golden State Warriors, players, coaches and personnel, cheer in the closing seconds of a 111-86 win over the Dallas Mavericks in an NBA Western Conference first-round playoff basketball game in Oakland on Thursday.

Rapper Snoop Dogg sits courtside before the Dallas Mavericks played the Golden State Warriors' in an NBA Western Conference first-round basketball playoff game in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, May 3, 2007. The Warriors won 111-86.

Actors Owen Wilson, second from left, and Kate Hudson, second from right, cheer for the Golden State Warriors as they play the Dallas Mavericks during the first half of a NBA Western Conference first-round playoff basketball game Thursday in Oakland.

OAKLAND — As far back as five years ago, when Stephen Jackson was barely getting off the bench for the San Antonio Spurs and Baron Davis was just starting to make his mark with the Charlotte Hornets, the two guards would talk about someday playing on the same team together and leading that squad to NBA greatness.

Thursday night, it finally happened.

Led by Jackson and Davis — who were united by a midseason trade that saved the Warriors from a 13th year of playoff drought — Golden State smashed the brittle championship dreams of the Dallas Mavericks, dethroning the defending Western Conference champions in the first round of the NBA postseason with a series-clinching, 111-86 Game 6 victory before a howling mob of 20,677 at Oracle Arena.

Jackson, one of four players brought over to Golden State from the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 17, recovered from an early elbow to the head to score 33 points, with a franchise playoff-record seven 3-pointers. And Davis staged possibly the greatest one-legged NBA playoff performance since New York Knicks center Willis Reed strode into legend in 1970. Davis provided 20 points, 10 rebounds and six assists despite suffering a strained right hamstring in the first quarter that left him limping throughout the rest of the evening.

Helped by critical contributions from Matt Barnes, who stepped into the starting lineup and provided 16 points, 11 boards and seven assists, and Andris Biedrins, who carded his second double-double of the series with a dozen points and boards, coach Don Nelson managed to knock off his employer of some eight seasons and make good on his vision of what the new Warriors could become.

“It’s one of the things coach had asked after the trade,” veteran center Adonal Foyle said. “He said, ‘I know we’re going to be a good ballclub in the future. Unfortunately, I want it now, and it’s something I’m going to demand.'”

Those demands were paid off at the expense of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who could only watch unhappily as Nelson dismantled his former team, turning probable regular-season league MVP Dirk Nowitzki into a postseason afterthought. The German All-Star finished a dreadful series with eight points on 2-for-13 shooting in Game 6.

The Warriors will open their first second-round playoff series in 16 seasons on the road Monday night against either the fourth-seeded Utah Jazz or the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets. Those teams will stage their own Game 7 on Saturday for the right to face the most improbable first-round survivors in NBA history, a 42-40 Warriors team that knocked off the mighty 67-15 Mavericks, owners of the NBA’s best record.

With a 20-7 record since getting its full roster healthy in early March, who’s to say this Warriors team can’t be the first to make it out of the second round since the 1975 squad won the franchise’s only title since moving to California?

“On the old ‘Mickey Mouse Show,’ there was one day out of the week that was ‘Anything Can Happen’ day,” said assistant coach Larry Riley, like Nelson a former veteran of the Mavericks’ bench. “That’s what we’re talking about. Anything can happen.”

Jackson said earlier in this series that he owed his new team a game-winning shot after having beaten the Warriors with a 3-pointer at the buzzer on behalf of the Pacers back in November. Instead, he made sure that wasn’t necessary by setting a new playoff career high for scoring and serving as the catalyst for an 18-0 third-quarter run that put the game away.

Jackson nailed two of his four 3-pointers to start the spree, and when Barnes rocketed down the lane for a left-handed slam to make it 80-57 Warriors, it was all over but the celebrating. That reached a new crescendo when Davis checked out with 2 minutes and 19 seconds left. First he exhorted the crowd to make even more noise, and then enveloped Nelson in a massive bear hug.

Davis had checked out of the game in much different fashion at the 5:10 mark of the first quarter, heading straight to the locker room to care for his strained right hamstring. Davis drew cheers from the sellout crowd just by showing up on the Warriors bench with 10:18 left in the second quarter.

But before Davis could check in, the Warriors had another injury to deal with as Jackson was felled, apparently struck by an elbow from Barnes while both teammates were chasing an offensive rebound. While Jackson writhed on the ground in pain, Josh Howard scored on a short jumper at the other end, pulling the Mavericks into a 29-all tie.

Davis was obviously laboring with a limp in his step, and Dallas seemed primed to pull away. But Davis scored 11 of the Warriors’ final 12 points of the half to keep them out in front, 50-48, at intermission.

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